Spain’s “bandeja of the heart”: “We decided to donate the prize money to the people of Valencia”

“President, regardless of whether we win or not, we want to use the prize money from this World Championships to help those in need in Valencia“. Some have called it the “bandeja of the heart,” and that’s how the eve of the World Championships finals began for Spain‘s padel teams, both women’s and men’s, with a gesture that comes straight from the heart to offer concrete help to those suffering from the flood disaster in Valencia.

Yes, because you can make history on the court with a racket in hand, but you can also do it in the “quiet” of the locker room, when just a look and a nod of understanding are enough between Paula, Ari, Gemma, Alejandra, Bea, ‘Martita’, Jessica, and Claudia on one side, and Arturo, Paquito, Ale, Jorge, Mike, Jon, Alex, and Juan on the other, after reading on their phones about the terrible tragedy. So, after discussing it among themselves, they met with the president of the Spanish Padel Federation, Ramón Morcillo, to communicate their decision to donate the prize from this final — as the FEP allows both teams to keep the entire prize money from the World Championships — to support the victims of the flood in Valencia. A beautiful gesture.

Then came the matches. The victory of the women’s team over Argentina, followed by an electrifying men’s final filled with twists, incredible plays by these talented padel players, and a nail-biting tiebreaker in the third match and third set that crowned the Argentinians.

After the match, in the Media Center Khalifa Tennis e Squash, the world champion women’s team coached by Iciar Montes and the men’s team led by Juan José Gutiérrez, despite their defeat, came forward. Ramón Morcillo spoke: “There’s a reason these players are here. The women are world champions, the men fought hard and came within a hair of winning the championship, but they’re champions too, no doubt. You can be a champion on the court and off the court as well, and I can tell you that yesterday, all the players, the staff, came to tell me they’re donating the prize money to the victims of the tragedy in Valencia. A gesture that truly comes from the heart, because all these young people you see here” — said Morcillo, as Lebrón and Yanguas were overcome with emotion — “Have such big hearts“.